River Road Ranch is a 115-acre jewel in the heart of the Russian River Valley AVA. Chardonnay vines thrive in well-drained soils, shrouded with fog cooled nights, ideal growing conditions. The grapes for this wine came from two blocks of twelve and fifteen-year-old vines, planted with clones #4, 95, and 2A-Wente.
Bottled poetry is the description of Trione Chardonnay. Burgundian in style of both nose and palate. Rich and inviting, this wine offers a complex mix of toasty baguette, warm melted brie; silky but with the structure demonstrating the aging potential. The wine is tasting great now but will be awesome for the next 5-7 years.
Excellent with fish and seafood, such as flanders in a butter sauce or seared scallops.
“A serious Chardonnay regardless of price, this will raise eyebrows at a price below $40. Full-bodied but balanced with fresh acidity and braced by notable oak, it shows aromas of baking spices, roasted nuts, and baked apples, with fruit notes recalling mangoes and ripe peaches adding breadth to the flavor profile. Aging for 13 months in French oak barrels—more than one-third of them new—imparts wood notes that are evident but welcome in relation to the wine’s weight and depth of flavor. It would pair well with comparably serious seafood like seared scallops or swordfish, but don’t worry about this being outgunned by dishes based on pork or veal.”
- The Tasting Panel (June 2023), 93 pts
"Smoky and creamy notes to the lemon curd and pineapple, with piquant chopped ginger. Medium-to full-bodied chardonnay with lots of flavor and a toasty finish. Drink now."
- James Suckling (June 2022), 92 pts
"A full-bodied white with aromas and flavors of apricots, dried mangoes, toasted hazelnuts, flint and saline notes. Buttery with an underlying smokiness, balanced by elegant acidity. Drink or hold."
- James Suckling (December 2020), 92 pts
"Cooked apple, ripe pineapple, hazelnut and salted caramel on the nose. It’s full-bodied with crisp acidity. Concentrated and ripe with a smoky, toasty finish. Drink or hold."
- James Suckling (February 2021), 92 pts
"The 2017 Chardonnay River Road Ranch offers ripe apples on the nose accented by toast and spices, with a medium-bodied palate, toasty flavors and good freshness. - Erin Brooks"
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (August 2020), 89 pts
"The 2017 Chardonnay River Road Ranch is also made in a charming, straightforward style, with quality honeyed orchard fruits and toasty notes, medium-bodied richness, and good overall freshness and balance. It's ideal for drinking over the coming 2-3 years."
- Jeb Dunnuck (May 2020), 88 pts
"This is a bright, effusive, full-bodied wine, with underlying acidity that keeps it fresh in the glass. Apple and pear flavors combine with firm texture, providing weight and breadth."
- Wine Enthusiast (December 2017), 90 pts
"A toasty oak aroma leads to a a broad, generous palate of citrus, white peach, and pineapple, with crackling acidity balancing the ripe fruit."
- GOLD MEDAL - Sunset International Wine Competition 2016
Upgrade your Chardonnay
Chardonnay is easy to come by—it’s our most popular wine by a wide margin. But don’t say, “I’ll have a glass of Chardonnay,” unless you mean it—and make sure that glass earned gold. Life’s too short to dip into a sea of unremarkable Chard."
- Sunset Magazine (October 2016), "The wine to buy this year"
"Toasty wood and crisp lemon complement one another in this medium-bodied, richly layered and developed wine, complex in green apple and nutmeg. There's lovely structure behind this wine as well, making for a food-friendly pairing that should age well in bottle another couple of years."
- Wine Enthusiast (September 2016), 91 pts
Trione Winery was established in 2005 by Mark and Vic Trione. The Trione family has farmed Sonoma county for three generations and is deeply rooted in the Sonoma Country wine ...
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